Saving Spring
by Clarra-Night
Summary: The seasons pass, as the sons of Frigga grow up together.


**_Author's Note: Hope you don't mind the sadness, or sappiness... _**

**_From Frigga's motherly point of view, watching Thor and Loki together as they grow up. And no, the seasons are not in chronological order_**

**_I hope you enjoy :) _**

* * *

The spring day seemed to be smiling along with Frigga as she watched her two tiny sons play in one of the palace gardens. Two small figures, though one noticeably bigger than the other. A light breeze was sent down to tousle their hair softly, gold and black, along with the fresh grass and the tall, willowy tree nearby.

Their laughter dotted the clear morning, and as another draught carried the sound to her, Frigga partly wished not for the first time that they wouldn't grow up. But she smiled as she envisioned the two of them running around together like this when they would be older - she couldn't imagine them parting whatever might happen, so there was no need to hang onto this age.

Her littlest son was not quite yet two, and so kept tripping over his own feet. As she watched, Loki stumbled over an uneven patch of earth and fell forward. She instinctively started towards them, though even as she did she already knew it wasn't necessary - sure enough, her eldest, his own footwork passable, was there crouching beside his minikin brother to help him up, and Frigga felt her heart swell gladly.

Loki seemed to be saying something to Thor, as he clutched his brother's fingers and pointed to the swaying branches above them of the tree. The words "Not from the ground, they're hurt" reached her ears from Loki.

Frigga surveyed them curiously as they both began capering around the lawn with their hands grasping at the air above their heads. Five minutes later, Thor lifted Loki to put him on his shoulders ("Maybe we can reach them like this!"). Loki seemed to think it wasn't a good idea, whatever exactly her sons were trying to do, but he didn't seem to mind. They remained in that position until they inevitably toppled over.

When Loki bobbed out of his mantle and held it open in his slight arms like it was a safety net, she realised they were trying to collect the tiny, fragile flowers that the spring breeze was gently loosening from the tree. She laughed to herself as Thor suddenly began shaking his head vigorously to rid the white petals snagged in his blond hair, when his little brother pointed them out with an impish smile.

Some time later, when the twilight began staining the clouds with blue and cotton pink, she made her way to the two boys, filled with contentment from the day. Their upturned faces at her approach looked both slightly displeased and buoyant, and Thor said, "We didn't get a lot, because the things wouldn't let me catch them! The ones that did just got crushed."

"But we still have one each, for you." Loki's green eyes looked hopeful.

Two of the miniscule, seven-petal blossoms were carefully placed into her palm, a pair of perfect white dots in her grasp.

"Oh, but they're lovely" Frigga felt her smile break anew into its most joyful as she cradled the gifts to her, the affection thrumming happily in her chest.

* * *

The wind-blown leaves were scattering the autumnal air with russet orange, amber yellow and bronzed red, but most of them lay in crisp, miniature mountains and quilts across the garden grounds.

Frigga's dress was being pulled by the cool wind, which was also brushing her two sons' hair and clothes, though they seemed to be finding the novelty in the autumn's characteristics.

Thor was now big enough at six years old to wade through the coppery hued mounds of leaves with his head above, but Loki would be occasionally submerged as his brother dragged him by his hand through the taller piles. Frigga felt the mirth bubble up and build a smile each time she saw it happen.

"This autumn is turning everything golden."

Loki contemplated with watchful green orbs the burnished warmth of the season's colours. Even the sunlight seemed like rose gold, the glass pendant of the necklace their mother wore glinting amber.

She watched Loki unexpectedly disappear into a leafy hillock when Thor wasn't paying attention. When her eldest realized Loki was no longer under his surveillance, he rummaged through the leaves calling for him. Thor then plucked papery bits of yellow and red from his younger brother's night-coloured hair, and Loki smiled up at him.

"Sorry, Brother, but I don't want to lose you."

Frigga's chest gave a little ache as she smiled at that, minding her sons in the gusty autumn afternoon.

* * *

The sunshine beat down in hot, bright rays as Thor and his friends spiritedly tussled across the grounds. He seemed to relish minding himself with the other children, eight-year-olds too, so Frigga found her eye drawn to Loki.

Her youngest son was watching his brother from beneath the tree that blossomed the tiny, seven-petal white flowers in spring, the others having deemed him too unskilled to join in. She doubted he would have particularly enjoyed scuffling with them, but Loki was unwaveringly wherever Thor was, so she could see a wishful trace in his expression.

It also pained her to see that the summer's lively heat seemed to afflict him, while everyone else was reveling in it – the other, older children glowed as they fought playfully. Loki watched from the outside, skin pale but fevered, and Frigga felt the concern tug at the back of her mind.

She fastened on her necklace as she made her way to the tree, and he automatically reached up to take her hand before even looking. Their mother knelt beside him, she and Loki sitting together until Thor's friends returned to their homes.

The temperature mercifully softened as the sun began setting, Frigga sweeping her hand over Loki's febrile cheek. Thor ran over to them, taking Loki's other hand.

Frigga wished she would stop feeling that pull on her heart every time she saw him smile up at Thor without resentment.

* * *

The snowflakes looked faintly luminescent as they swirled in delicate white patterns through the evening air. The gardens were hidden beneath wintry blankets, and Frigga peered out from behind the frosted glass of an arched window to check her sons outside.

Queenly responsibilities would tow her elsewhere soon, but for now… she had a little time. She already knew beforehand Thor was someplace with his other friends, but that just meant Loki would be somewhere close by.

The sliver of black coat tails in the distance caught the corner of her eye, and Frigga saw her littlest son (a young man now, but not quite in the same place of adulthood as the others) treading through the deep snow towards the palace, towards her.

Something inside her felt lighter seeing how well the winter cold agreed with him (watching Loki be the only one suffering in the Asgardian summer heat was painful), but tightened when she considered why, exactly. But then Frigga saw Thor trooping through the flurrying snow beside him.

The two of them walked side by side, a pair of dark figures against the shadow-blue and white eiderdown of snow. They looked like they were talking as they made their way back to her together. She smiled as she watched them reach the tree that flowered those miniature ivory blossoms in spring – Loki glanced up at its slender branches and went to nudge his brother.

But the moment Loki's gloved fingers touched his arm, Thor glimmered softly green, and began disappearing. Frigga's smile fell away, and she saw her son's green eyes hold the mournful stare back of his brother's, before the illusion vanished completely.

She felt the lump rising in her throat, and tears burning behind her eyes, and Frigga unconsciously grasped the necklace around her neck. Really, the pendant.

It was a little glass bottle, with a pair of dried, seven-petal white flowers inside. One from each of them.

* * *

**_Author's Note: Please leave a review for me? Thank you for reading this! _**


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